Coupler support



June 8, 1954 F. H. KAYLER 2,680,526 coUPLER SUPPORT Filed Jan. 9, 1952 MHT/'a4 711 90 `9,2 INVEN TOR.

Ennis jlr Patented June 8, 1954 UNITED STAT CDUPLER SUPPORT Frank H. Kayler, Alliance, Ohio, assignor to American Steel Foundries, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 9, 1952, seri-a1 No. 265,606

12 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a novel support for the shank of a railway car coupler and more particularly to a support of the type wherein a carrier iron is resiliently mounted on a striking casting and is adapted to afford support for the coupler shank. The present application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Serial No. 605,233, filed July 16, 1945, now Patent Number 2,604,215.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a novel arrangement wherein the striking casting affords' resilient support for a carrier iron which in turn resiliently supports the coupler shank at a desired height during normal operation and permits the shank to move horizontally and vertically for adjustment to various truck conditions.

A more specific object of the invention is to maintain the supporting springs for the carrier iron under precompression by means which can be readily assembled and disassembled from the sides of the car body.

Another object of the invention is to devise a coupler support such as above described having provision for readily adjusting the height of the coupler shank to any desired coupling position.

Still another object of the invention is to facilitate assembly and disassembly of the carrier iron with respect to thel striking casting by providing slots in the side walls thereof and by providing attachment means on the remote sides of the striking casting for removably anchoring the outer ends of retainer plates which project through the slots and are received at their inner ends within complementary recesses of the carrier iron to limit upward movement thereof and to thereby maintain the coupler supporting springs under precompression between the carrier iron and the striking casting.

A further object of the invention is to reduce stresses on the anchoring means for the retainer plates by providing outturned anges on the striking casting above its slots, said angcs affording bearing for the retainer plates along a major portion of their length, whereby the carrier iron uponengagement with the plates acts through relatively short lever arms thereof to stress the anchoring means.

Yet another object of the invention is to form and arrange the striking casting and carrier iron to accommodate maximum spring capacity Within the available space and to afford positive positioning of the springs.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the specification and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front view of a coupler support embodying a preferred form of the invention, with portions of the structure in section on the line l-l of Figure 2.

Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1. l

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the coupler support with portions broken away to clarify the illustration, and

Figures 4, 5 and 6 are respectively a top plan view, a front elevational view, and a side elevational view of the carrier iron utilized in the arrangement of Figures 1 to 3.

Describing the invention in detail, the novel coupler support comprisesa striking casting, generally designated 42, and adapted for support from the center and end sills (not shown) of a car body as described in detail in said copending application. The striking casting is preferably formed with a hollow, top, coupler-striking or stop portion 44 as well as depending carrier snpports 46, and a carrier spring support, generally designated 48. The striking portion 44 is rectangular in form and is provided with an upstanding transverse flange 50 having openings 52 for riveting to a car body end sill (not shown) as described in said copending application.

The flange 50 is reinforced by longitudinal webs 54 (Figures l and 3) merging with said flange 59 and with a top wall 5S of the portion 44. A longitudinal web 51 extending parallel with the webs 54 also merges with the ange 50, the top Wall 56, a striker wall 58 and a horizontal wall 60 spaced below the wall 56, as best seen in Figure 2. The web 5l also extends rearwardly to merge with a transverse wall S2 adapted for riveting to a car body end sill, as more fully described in the copending application.

Extending downwardly at opposite sides of the striking portion 44 are the above mentioned carrier supports 4S comprising substantially vertical side walls B4 merging at their lower extremities with a bottom wall and with transverse front and rear walls B8 defining the before mentioned carrier spring support 48 having a pocket 'lo between the walls 68 for convenient reception of carrier springs 'l2 which support a carrier iron generally designated 14.

Referring now to Figures 4 to 6 inclusive, the carrier iron '14 is of rectangular cup-like form for reception in the complementary shaped pocket T0 of the spring support 48. The carrier iron comprises a top wall 16 which is preferably formed of wear resistant material to support a coupler shank, generally designated at 'l1 in Figure 1, said shank having pivotal mounting for horizontal and vertical angling as fully described in the parent application.

The wall I6 is provided with a plurality of depending spring positioning bosses 89 received within the upper ends of the springs l2, the lower ends of which are similarly positioned by upstanding bosses 8l on the bottom Wall 66 of the Spring support 48.

The carrier iron wall 16 is also formed adjacent its edges with spaced transverse walls 82 and side walls sil, defining a pocket for reception of the springs l2, as bestY seen in Figures 1 and 2. The inner surfaces of these walls are arcuately formed as indicated at 8e in Figure 4 to afford convenient positioning for the lateral springs 'l2 at opposite sides of the center spring 12 and to aord maximum spring capacity consistent with adequate strength forservice conditions.

Each carrier iron side wall 84 is formed with top and bottom outturned anges 85, the top flanges merging with the underside of the top wall 16 and the bottom anges being spaced from the top anges 8% to dene recesses receiving the inner ends of elongated retainer plates B8 riveted as at 90 to outturnedfianges 92 integral with the related side walls 6d of the striking casting l2 and extending through slots 93 (Figure l) in the related side walls E4 as best seen in Figures 1 and 3.

The retainer plates, as best seen in Figure l, are anchored at their outer extremities by the rivets 9S or other convenient detachable securing means such as bolt and nut assemblies; and the inner ends of the plates 83 are engageable with the carrier iron lugs B to limit vertical movement of the carrier iron. In this connection it will be noted that normally the springs 12 are precompressed to maintain the coupler shank 71 at the height shown in Figure l; however, downward movement of the shank Tl under service conditions results in fiuther compression 0f the springs 'I2 which upon upward movement of the shank 'Il urge the bottom stop lugs 86 of the carrier iron against the underside of the retainer plates 88 at their inner ends.

Inasmuch as the retainer plates B8 are subjected to repeated impacts by the bottom carrier iron lugs 86 under service conditions, the novel arrangement, best seen in Figure 1, aords bearing for the plates 88 for a major portion of their length against the underside of the anges 92, so that the lugs 86 upon contact with the plates 88 under the action of the springs 'l2 act against the plates 33 through relatively short lever arms thereof, an arrangement which greatly reduces stresses on the rivets 99. It will be further noted that, although the slots 93 are illustrated in the drawings as bounded at their upper edges by outturned flanges 92 of the striking casting, if desired, the lower edges of the slots 93 maybe similar bounded by outturned flanges through which the rivets or other suitable securing means may extend.

Furthermore, it will be understood that the thickness of the retainer plates 88 may be varied by the use of shims, or plates of other thicknesses may be substituted for the plates 88; and it will be understood that the precompression of the springs 'i2 is sufficient as above described to urge the stop lugs 3% of the carrier iron into engagement with the plates 88 when the coupler shank 1'! is supported in its normal horizontal coupling position by the carrier iron. It will thus be apparent that the novel arrangement of plates 88 affords a simple method of adjusting the coupler shank Tl to its correct coupling height.

I claim:

1. In a coupler support, a member having means for attachment to an associated car body,

said member having spaced substantially vertical parallel Side walls, slots through said walls, precompressed spring means supported by said member between said walls, a carrier iron supported by said spring means and having recesses registered with respective slots, retainer plates engaged at their inner ends with upwardly facing surfaces of said carrier iron, said plates being separable with respect to said member and bearing for a major portion of their length against downwardly facing surfaces thereof, and elongated members extending through openings of said downwardly facing surfaces and plates for retaining the latter in assembled relationship with the latter, said elongated members being spaced farther from the inner margins of the respective slots than the outer margins of the related upwardly facing surfaces, whereby reaction of said spring means against said plates is against relative short lever arms thereof to reduce consequent stresses on the elongated members.

p 2. A coupler support, according to claim l, wherein the upwardly facing surfaces are formed on lugs projecting from the sides of the carrier iron, and wherein the carrier iron is formed with other lugs on the underside of the top wall of the carrier with their faces iiush with the outer ends of the carrier top wall to give increased side guide bearing for the carrier against the side walls.

3. A coupler support, according to claim l, wherein the downwardly facing surfaces are partly formed on outturned anges of the side walls defining the upper edges of the slots, and the elongated members are provided with heads bearing against the upper surfaces of the anges, said elongated members also being provided with other heads bearing against the lower surfaces of the retainer plates.

4. In a coupler support, a support member having spaced forward and rear transverse walls and having a spring seat therebetween, a carrier iron resiliently supported by said seat and having forward and rear surfaces above respective walls, said carrier iron having spaced side walls with oppositely facing recesses, respectively, between said surfaces, said support member having upstanding side walls approximately perpendicular to said forward and rear walls, said last mentioned side walls having slots therethrough aligned with respective recesses, flanges on the outer surfaces of respective last mentioned side walls, plates extending through respective slots and having their outer ends detachably connecte-:l to the flanges, the inner ends of the plates being received within the recesses and being disposed above and engageable with upwardly facing surfaces of the carrier iron to limit upward movement thereof, said recesses being of greater depth than that of said plates to accommodate vertical movement of the carrier iron.

5. In a coupler support, a striking casting having side walls partly defining an opening for the able with upwardly facing surfaces of the carrierr iron, and means disposed entirely externally of said opening for detachably connecting the plates at the ends thereof remote the respective side walls.

6. In a coupler support, a striking casting having top and bottom and spaced side Walls denning a coupler shank opening, forward and rear transverse webs upstandng from said bottom wall from each other to carrier having depending side walls with oppositely facing recesses, respectively, between said surfaces of said carrier, slots in said rst mentioned side walls partly dened by outturned outturned flanges on the side walls above 'the slots, a pair of spaced elongated plates arranged each other, the outer support, a support structure for the reception of an assoprecompressed resilient means supporting` the carrier from the bottom of said opening, slots through of said structure communicating with said opening and partly dened of each other, the outer removably attached to respective flanges at under precompression.

9. In a coupler support, a support structure having an opening for reception of an associated coupler shank, ported by said structure at the bottom of said a carrier resiliently sup-- said surfaces and edges, said plates projecting through the downwardly facing surfaces, each elongated member being spaced a greater distance from the opening jacent upwardly facing surface and the related slot.

A coupler support comprising a support structure, a carrier resiliently supported thereby, aligned slots through opposite sides of said structure, outturned flanges projecting from opposite sides of said structure above said slots, elongated plates arranged in alignment endwise of each other and extending through respective against oppositely facing surfaces of said structure and anges, each elongated member being References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

